This invention is directed to an article of manufacture in the form of an illuminated cabinet, which may be used in conjunction with a sensory evaluation program, or for in-house laboratory scale testing, of new and promising hair care materials on virgin human hair tresses.
Often, new personal care products for application to the hair, such as shampoos, conditioners, fixatives, and permanent waves, are subjected to rigid screening "in-house" on a laboratory scale, or by the use of trained panelists in a program of sensory evaluation. Typically, virgin human hair tresses are treated with the new and promising products, and evaluated and screened based on observed benefits such as shine, feel, resistance to wet and dry combing, tangling, "fly-away", and curl retention.
Differences in various new and promising hair treating products can be easily detected and evaluated much more expeditiously, if the tresses are observed under the proper lighting conditions.
Thus, in U.S. Pat No. 5,176,906 which issued Jan. 5, 1993, for example, there is disclosed a certain fluorescent organosilicon compound, which when applied to the hair, can be examined under a source of ultraviolet light for fluorescence, for the purpose of determining the extensiveness of deposition of the fluorescent organosilicon compound on the hair.
The article of manufacture of the present invention provides a convenient examination tool for use in conjunction with such examination procedures.